COMPETENCE OF EDUCATIONAL STAFF TO PROVIDE FIRST AID

The paper presents results of a survey of selected attitudes, knowledge and skills of Czech educational personnel, which are relevant to the provision of first aid. The aim of the investigation was to assess the level of competence of two groups of educational staff – teachers and educators – depending on their education, length of experience, and other variables. The result of the quantitative-qualitative survey are insights and knowledge that can contribute to the current debate on the training of educational personnel and their real needs in the context of lifelong learning. Research has shown, among other things, that the provision of proper first aid is one of the skills that educational personnel attribute great importance to and they do not deny the importance of these skills. It was also found that teachers and educators – regardless of the position and the length of teaching experience – felt considerable uncertainty in medical knowledge and skills, furthermore the research showed that the situlation can not be improved by conventional instruction methods (instruction, lectures, etc..). It is therefore neccesary to seek more effective ways to improve health literacy of educational staff, for example in the form of experiential-based first aid courses.